Consumer Credit Hits $4 Trillion As Student, Auto Loans Hit All Time High

After a few months of wild swings, in December US consumer credit normalized rising by $16.6 billion, just below the $17 billion expected, after November's whopping $22.5 billion. The surge in borrowing in November brought the total to just above $4 trillion for the first time ever on the back of an America's ongoing love affair with auto and student loans.

Perhaps more notably, the lowest increase in December credit card usage since 2012.

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There was barely a change in the monthly increase in non-revolving credit, i.e. student and auto loans, which jumped by $14.8 billion, bringing the nonrevolving total to a new all-time high of $2.965 trillion.

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And while slowdown in December credit card use may prompt fresh questions about the strength of the US consumer during the all-important holiday spending season, the recent dramatic upward revision to personal savings notwithstanding, one place where there were no surprises, was in the total amount of student and auto loans: here as expected, both numbers hit fresh all-time highs, with a record $1.593 trillion in student loans outstanding, an impressive increase of $10.3 billion in the quarter, while auto debt also hit a new all-time high of $1.155 trillion, an increase of $9.5 billion in the quarter.

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In short, whether they want to or not, Americans continue to drown even deeper in debt and enjoying every minute of it.

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Tyler Durden (pseudonym) is the lead writer at ZeroHedge. Tyler represents the idea that a return to truly efficient markets is a possibility and ...
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Tyler Durden (pseudonym) is the lead writer at ZeroHedge. Tyler represents the idea that a return to truly efficient markets is a possibility and a necessity.

After having experienced the inner workings of capitalism at various asset managers and advisors, Tyler believes that the current model is flawed. He argues that a deleveraging at every level of modern society is needed to reinspire the fundamental entrepreneurial spirit.